Vita Aeterna
by Puff of Smoke
Summary: Dawn, now immortal due to the power of the key, has a vision of ten recently murdered people coming back to life as immortals in a Seattle morgue.
1. Vision

Vita Aeterna

Fanfic crossover

Disclaimer: I own neither Harper's Island or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I do however own the James Foley character.

Summary: Set in 2009, right after Harper's Island ends. Dawn, now immortal due to the power of the key has a vision of ten recently murdered people coming back to life as immortals in a Seattle morgue. She knows that these individuals will be important in the fight against evil, and goes to Seattle with Vi and James Foley to get them and bring them to Cleveland.

(This is written as an AU for Harper's Island, where Sully and Trish's bodies were not burned up in the church but left where they were killed, and Booth was found while rescuers were scouring the island.)

Chapter One

Dawn is sleeping in her bed at the Cleveland branch of the International Watcher's Council. She seems peaceful for a few moments, and then starts to mutter in her slumber as a vision, which is a side effect of her immortality, hits her full force.

_Dawn's vision_

_A brown haired man with glasses in the woods, startled by a friend, accidentally shoots himself. Another man with dark hair and tattoos getting stabbed in the stomach. A young couple on a bridge, being stalked by a third man, then both shown floating in the water below. A blonde woman impaled on a boarding knife as she tries to fire a shot gun. Another man impaled on the same boarding knife, then strung up. A gothic looking woman, hanging from the ceiling by a noose. A blond haired man holding a shotgun like a bat, getting stabbed in the back. A black man struggling with the same man that had the boarding knife and getting killed by the spike of a memo holder. And finally a woman in a wedding dress getting stabbed in the side by a man she appears to know. There are glimmers of other murders, but those are the ten that stand out. Dawn then finds herself standing in a morgue with a large number of covered bodies lined up. _

_She walks up to on of the bodies, and takes note of the toe-tag. It reads Jared Dunn on it. She moves to leave the room, but as she passes the other end of the gurney holding the body, the man's arm shoots out and grabs Dawn's arm._

"_Help us."_

Dawn jolts awake, gasping for air in a puddle of sweat. She knew immediately what she had to do, having faced the same situation with two of her now immortal friends, Vi and James. She had to get to Seattle before the awakening.

To Be Continued…


	2. Retrival

Chapter One

Dawn strode into her surrogate father's office with purpose. Giles looks up in surprise at the sudden intrusion.

"What's wrong Dawn?" He asks, seeing the look on her face.

"It's gonna happen again." She said. "Just like with Vi and James."

"Another immortal?" Giles asks, taking his glasses off and cleaning them. "Where?"

"Seattle. But there's more than one." Dawn informs him. "I'm taking Faith, Vi and James with me to get them before the awakening."

"More than one? How many are there?" Giles inquires, looking sickly, knowing that with the exception of Faith and Dawn, Immortals were born out of a horrific event leading to their human death.

"Ten." Dawn replies. "Most likely the victims of that massacre that was on the news last night." 

"Harper's Island." Giles recalls, having seen the news report the previous evening. "Dear lord."

"We'll need rooms for them, four women and six men." Dawn tells him. "They'll be disoriented and confused for a couple of days following the awakening and more than likely have no knowledge of the supernatural."

"Indeed." Giles concurs. "I'll have Andrew and a few of the slayers get one of the unused wings prepared."

Dawn nods. "I have to go find the others, we don't have much time before they'll awaken, and I don't want to have to explain what happened to them in a morgue."

****

It wasn't hard to find the three people she was looking for. The immortals working for the watcher's council had formed a tight-knit group and were rarely seen apart. Dawn found Vi, Faith and James in the dining room enjoying breakfast in the east-wing lounge.

"We got work to do." Dawn announces as she approaches her friends.

"What's going on?" Faith asks.

"We have to go to Seattle and pick up a few new immortals and bring them here before they awaken." Dawn tells them and the trio nods.

"When do we leave?" Vi asks.

"Pretty much now. We don't have much time before the Seattle coroner's office is gonna have a lot of questions they wont be able to answer." Dawn answers.

The three other immortals look at eachother for a moment, and then nod.

"Let's get it done." James says, looking forward to meeting more immortals as the newest member of the group currently.

****

Seattle Grace Hospital Morgue

There is silence permeating the cold room, as all it's current occupants are currently deceased, and the shift change has allowed for a fifteen minute break in staff available, so there is no one around to become alarmed by the crackling green energy portal that appears in the center of the room. Dawn walks out of it, followed by the other three. They take a look around the large room, shocked at the large number of bodies in the room.

"Who exactly are we looking for?" Faith asks, walking over to a black bag on a nearby gurney, and looking at the tag on it. "Malcolm Ross."

"I don't know any of the names except for a Jared Dunn. Just the faces." Dawn replies, passing on the images of the people they're looking for through the mind link that Willow established for them.

"Well I don't think Malcolm here made the immortal cut." Faith says as she looks into the bag and sees the pile of badly burned bones.

The four of them start looking amongst the bodies that are laying on gurneys throughout the room, now knowing what the new immortals look like.

"Got one." Vi called out, looking down at the blonde woman on the table in front of her. "Chloe Carter."

"Got Jared Dunn, and a Shane Pierce over here." James says.

"Two more here as well." Faith announces, looking at the tags for Christopher Sullivan and Danny Brooks.

"Get them back to the council infirmary and then come back." Dawn tells them, and her three friends maneuver the five gurneys across the room and through the portal. While waiting for her friends to return, Dawn finds the other five new immortals, determining them to be Cal Vandeusen, Patricia Wellington, Nikki Bolton, Joel Booth and Kelly Seaver. By the time, her friends get back, Dawn has moved the remaining gurneys into a train formation, allowing for easy transport through the portal to the council's infirmary. Just as Dawn pushes the final one through the portal and closes it behind her, the on-duty mortician enters the room with a clipboard in his hand and drops it noisily to the ground.

"Oh shit." He swears, seeing that a third of the bodies have been removed.

To Be Continued…..


	3. Awakening

Chapter 2: The Awakening

Inside the council infirmary, the victims of the Harper's Island massacre have been moved into beds. Dawn had felt that it would be better for them to wake up in a more comfortable environment than a steel gurney. Currently, she and Vi were the only ones awake in the room, having decided to take shifts of watching over the group until they returned to the land of the living.

"It shouldn't be much longer now." Dawn commented as she took notice of the fact that Cal's neck wound had mostly sealed itself shut, and Danny's eye was back to its wholeness. Vi nodded.

"Do you want me to call Faith and James? They'll want to be to help explain things." She asked with her Texan lilt.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Dawn says. "I'm not sure which one died first, and we might need James to restrain one or two of them if they freak out."

Vi walks over to the phone and dials James' room. She waits a few seconds and then hears the other end pick up.

"Foley." James short greeting comes over the phone line.

"James, it's Vi. Dawn wants you and Faith in the infirmary. She says it won't be much longer, and wants you and Faith here for the explanation and to help in case one or more of them freak out."

"I'll get her." James replies. "We'll be down in a few minutes." James hangs up on the other end, and Vi does the same.

"They're coming." Vi tells Dawn. Her statement is punctuated by a loud gasp and the two women look over at the bed occupied by Kelly Seaver, whose eyes are open and her hands are at her throat, clutching at it as if to remove something from it.

Dawn and Vi are at her bedside in a flash. They wrestle Kelly's arms away from her neck so she doesn't hurt herself.

"Kelly, calm down it's okay. You're safe now." Dawn tells her soothingly.

Kelly takes in the sight of Dawn and Vi hovering over her with fearful eyes that slowly calm and look peaceful after a moment.

"Is this heaven or something?" she asks. "I mean I died right?"

"You did die Kelly." Dawn tells her. "But you're special, and were allowed to come back."

"How?" Kelly asks sounding baffled.

"You're an immortal like the two of us." Vi answers her question. "Sometimes a death preceded by a horrific event like a great fear or betrayal will result in the victim returning to life."

"I don't understand." Kelly says.

"Think the movie 'The Crow' minus the crow." Dawn simplifies. "You were chosen by the Powers as being significant enough in the future that they needed you back. Same with the rest of them."

"Wakefield." Kelly whispers, realizing. "That's the fear. He came back, and killed me like he did to my mom years ago." She pauses, and looks around the room. "He killed Nikki, JD and Shane too?"

"Not for very long." Vi says. "They have also been chosen by the powers to return as well."

"What are these Powers?" Kelly asks, trying to comprehend what's going on.

"They are the forces that govern the multiverse. Different cultures have different names for them. The Christians call them God, despite there being more than one." Dawn tells her.

The three women look over at the sound of the door opening and see Faith and James enter the room. The other two immortals make their way over to the group.

"James, Faith, this is Kelly Seaver." Dawn introduces, and looks at Kelly again. "They're were chosen like us."

"Welcome to immortality Kels." Faith greets, and James settles for a brief nod of acknowledgement. He looks like he's about to speak but is interrupted by a cough on the other end of the room.

"I'll take care of it." James says and moves off to the bed of Joel Booth.

******

A couple hours later the last of the new immortal, Christopher Sullivan wakes up and the confused group has moved to one of the council's briefing rooms. They are all seated around a long table as Dawn explains in more detail what had happened to them.

"So what you're saying is because of the way we died, we were chosen by some higher being to return and act as it's soldiers forever?" Shane asks, "That sounds like a shitty deal."

"I'm not saying it's always gonna be fun, but it's the cards everyone here was dealt. No one in this room is ever going to age or die naturally, and as immortals we're much harder to kill than the average human." Dawn tells him. "You can leave if you want, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned you all died on Harper's Island. I don't mean to be harsh, but that's the truth. The council is willing to give you a home and new lives."

"I'm in." JD says from his seat. "The rest of my family is dead, and it's not like I have anywhere else to go." Kelly quickly agreed as well, smiling at JD. Cal, Chloe, Nikki, Danny and Booth quickly agreed as well, leaving just Shane, Trish and Sully undecided.

"What about the survivors, shouldn't they know that we're alive?" Sully asks.

"We can see about working something out." Dawn says. "Vi's parents know about her immortality and so does James' cousin."

"I ain't got no family left. Jimmy is the only one who could stand me." Shane says, after a moment. He takes a quick look at Faith. "I think I could find a few reasons to stick around. But I ain't gonna just be some higher power's bitch."

"Then think about it less like that and more like you've been given control of your own destiny." Dawn tells him. "We live outside the constraints and restrictions that normal people have. Not just the immortals but most of the councils employees do as well. Slayers, witches, werewolves… the list goes on."

"You're crazy." Sully says, looking at Dawn with disbelief all over his face.

"Maybe, but an hour ago you were dead. How do you explain that?" Vi defends her best friend. "We're offering you a new start, it's your choice whether or not you want to take it. But the world in general isn't ready to know about us. They wouldn't be able to handle the knowledge of the true realities of the world."

"If you stay, you'll be given a home and a chance to help mold the world to one day be ready to know about our existence." Dawn says. "What do you really have to lose?"

Sully and Trish, the only two who hadn't agreed yet, shared a long look before nodding.

"Fine, we'll do it." Sully says.

"But we want to say good bye first." Trish gives her condition to agreement.

To Be Continued…


	4. Closure

Vita Aeterna

Chapter 3: Closure

Seattle, Washington

3 Days Later

Chapter 3: Closure

Note: This is not a Highlander Crossover, Dawn and the others are a different kind of immortal, and there aren't headhunters or a gathering to worry about.

A crackling green portal erupted to life in an alleyway, well hidden in the gap between two large buildings. Dawn walked out of it, followed by the rest of her group, most of whom were under glamours provided by Willow. Trish hadn't been happy about it, but it was the only way that she could say her final goodbye to her sister and her old life. So she and the others had gone along with it.

"The limo Angel sent should just be around the corner." Dawn told them and the twelve immortals started walking towards the alley's exit. Faith and James had opted to remain in Cleveland for the funerals, knowing Dawn and Vi could handle things if they went awry. The group reached the limo and got in quickly.

"Riverton Crest Cemetery please." Dawn instructs the driver, who nods and begins driving. The ride takes about twenty minutes. The funeral is almost over as the group makes its way up to a nearby grave, which was the plan so that they could watch the proceedings from a distance and not arouse suspicion.

"Shea really went all out for everyone." Trish comments, seeing more coffins in the grouping than just the five Wellington family members who were killed. Sully grabs the binoculars that Vi had brought along, counting the number of coffins.

"Looks like pretty much everyone except for Henry, and Wakefield. Good riddance to the bastards." Sully comments. "Sorry JD. I know he was your brother and all."

"He stopped being my brother a long time ago." JD remarks, hugging Kelly close to him. Shane looks like he wants to say something, but decides against it. He had hit it off with Faith, and now that they were immortal, He figured starting fights with JD like he did when they were alive would just be useless.

"They're starting to leave." Nikki says, "We should be able to head down in a few minutes."

After the last of the funeral procession left in their vehicles, Trish led the way down to the grouping of coffins spread out over an half acre. Once there, the group split up to pay their respects. Trish went to her father's coffin; Sully, Danny and Booth went to Malcolm's; Chloe and Cal visited Lucy and Beth's, while Shane, Nikki, JD and Kelly hung back with Dawn and Vi, not really having anyone they cared about being buried here. JD had wanted to say goodbye to Marty, but they had learned that he was cremated and was going to be buried in a couple more days at the Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma. Dawn had told them that she would bring JD, Sully, Danny, Booth, and Trish to say goodbye to him in a few days.

******

Trish was standing at her father's coffin, tears pooling in her eyes.

"You were right about Henry daddy, I should have trusted you. I feel like this is all my fault." Trish cried looking down at the closed maple box that held her father's remains. "I am so sorry. I'm gonna be around forever now, same with a few more of Hen-.. that bastard's victims, but it won't be the same. I'll miss you always daddy, and I hope you'll be watching over us all. Goodbye, I love you." Trish says and kisses the casket.

******

At Malcolm's urn, Sully, Danny and Booth are standing around solemnly.

"It wasn't his fault, you know." Booth tells his friends. "Malcolm didn't kill me, it was just a horrible accident." Sully and Danny nod, and Booth looks at the urn again. "I forgive you Malcolm. Rest in peace, my friend."

******

Cal stood back and watched his fiancée, even still now that they had eternity together, as she paid her respects to her two friends that hadn't been able to come back to life like they had. In a way, he felt somewhat guilty, on behalf of Beth's death anyway. If he hadn't convinced Chloe, Sully and Beth not to leave at the marina that night then Beth would still be alive, and the other three could live out the normal lives.

'God I love that woman.' He thought to himself, as he watched her place a white rose on Lucy and Beth's coffins. He walked over and placed his own rose on Beth's as well. He would have done the same for Lucy, but he hadn't really gotten an opportunity to know her, and Chloe understood. He hoped that their wedding could at least bring some happiness to the group of immortals and to those who were now watching from above… Beth, Lucy, Malcolm and all the rest of them. After a few moments, Chloe turned away from the coffins of her two friends and gives Cal a small smile.

"I'm glad you're here with me." Chloe tells him as she moves in to embrace him. He has no words, he just holds the love of his life, and allows her to let out her emotions into his shoulder, a few tears of his own coming out, as she weeps quietly at what they had lost to be where they were now.

******

After everyone has said their goodbyes and such, Dawn tells them that they will be returning to Cleveland from a portal she will open in the nearby woods. The twelve of them begin to walk towards the woods, unaware that they have been noticed, and are now being followed by two other people.

Once reaching a point far enough into the woods that they are obscured by the trees, Dawn ends the glamour spell over them. She opens a portal, and one by one the immortals walk through the nexus into the Watcher's Council facilities on the other end. Dawn goes last, and as she is preparing to close the portal from the other end, She is knocked down by the two figures that had followed them as they jump through as well.

Immediately Faith and James who had been waiting for them on the other end are in action aiming their guns at the two unknowns.

"Shane?" "Jimmy?" "JD, Trish?!" "Abby?" come a mishmash of outbursts of exclamations of disbelief and confusion, both from the immortals and the only two people in the room who were still human, Abby Mills and Jimmy Mance.

To Be Continued…..

(Please be kind and review)


	5. Guardian

Vita Aeterna

(Had to find a way to bring Abby and Jimmy into this.)

Chapter 5: Guardian

"Shane?" "Jimmy?" "JD, Trish?!" "Abby?" Five words, said in a mix of confusion, shock and awe, set the room into an uproar, the two newcomers recognized by the entire contingent of the Harper's Island immortals. That had been an hour ago. Dawn had allowed the twelve of them some privacy from the rest of the council.

"So what you're telling me, is because of the horrific way in which you died, now you're gonna live forever?" Jimmy asks from his seat in the conference room.

"Pretty much, yeah." Shane answers, "According to Dawn anyways."

"That's crazy." Abby mutters, but looks happy for the second chance given to her dead friends. "So I guess that's why Shea was in an uproar a couple days ago."

"Yeah, I can see how ten bodies disappearing from a well secured morgue would do that to someone." Kelly snarks goodnaturedly, her second life ridding her of her chronic depression, same as it had for JD, although both still retained the gothic look.

"I'm glad you guys were able to come back. I felt so guilty." Abby says.

"Why would you feel guilty?" Booth asks, not missing the looks that Sully and Trish give to Abby as she speaks.

"Henry did what he did in some sick fantasy of the two of us being together forever. He killed everyone for me." Abby says.

"Don't blame yourself, Abner. Henry got broken sometime along the way, it's not your fault." Sully says, and Trish nods emphatically.

"We don't blame you. Things happened the way they were always going to happen." Trish tells her. "We've been given a second chance, and we've all decided to make a go of it."

"But what about the others?" Abby countered.

"Henry killed them, and us." Nikki consoles her friend. "You did what you could for us, and you even avenged us in the end, from what I've heard. You did good."

The group is interrupted by Willow entering the room, followed by Dawn, Vi, Faith and James.

"Willow, now probably isn't the best time for this." Dawn said as she tried to stop the redhead.

"Dawnie, I told you I sensed another Guardian awaken as you returned from Seattle. I need to know who it is." Willow says, her tone giving no chance of dissuasion. The fourteen immortals, and two guests watch as Willow looks around the room as if trying to sense something from within the room. Her eyes fall on Abby and she nods in acknowledgement. "Her. She's the one I sensed." Willow announces, pointing at Abby.

Abby's eyes widen in confusion as all eyes fall on her. "What are you talking about?"

"The Guardians are a line of powerful women that watch over the slayer, chosen for their inner-strength and character of will by the Powers." Dawn explains, answering Abby's question. "The last of the original Guardians were killed by the First Evil's minion Caleb back in May of 2003. Since then several new Guardians have surfaced, theres three we've found so far. Willow is one of them, and I guess you are too."

"She is Dawn, I sensed her the moment she stepped out of your portal." Willow says. "She needs to be trained."

"Hold up Willow, I know you're excited to find another Guardian, but give the poor girl some breathing room, she just went through a horrific tragedy and then finds out that ten of her friends are immortals." Dawn chastises Willow, and then turns to Abby. "I'm sorry, Willow gets overexcited sometimes."

Dawn is silent for a moment. "I think it's time to show you the real evil of the world, and then maybe this will all be easier to understand. You guys are going to meet your first vampire tonight."

"Vampire?!" Abby and Jimmy exclaim aloud.

******

Riverside Cemetery

The group was huddled around a couple of freshly dug graves. Dawn stood in front of the group of twelve she was introducing to the supernatural night-life of Cleveland. Faith, Vi, Willow and James stood nearby as well, letting Dawn do her thing.

As Dawn finishes speaking, two sets of hands shoot out of the ground where the graves are, eliciting gasps of surprise from Abby, Trish, Kelly and Chloe. They watch as the pair of vampires pull themselves out of the ground and face the group. Faith and James move in and grab the two newborns in chokeholds, not allowing them to get away.

"These two are vampires. They are soulless, killing machines, and they want your blood." Dawn tells the group. She turns to Faith and James and nods. They release the vampires and the pair charge at the group from Harper's Island. "Remember what I told you about killing them and dust 'em."

Shane and Trish push Abby and Jimmy to the back of the group, keeping them furthest from the vampires. The first vampire tackles Danny and the two fall to the ground, exchanging blows as the second is met head on by Sully and JD, both wielding stakes. The vampire punches out at JD, who ducks and kicks the vampire in the back of the legs as hard as he can, stumbling it and Sully punches it in the face as it's caught off guard, sending it to the ground in front of Chloe and Cal. Chloe dives forward as it attempts to pick itself off the ground, and stabs it in the back with her stake. The vampire doesn't dust however and shoves Chloe away. It gets up, executing a spinkick to the faces of JD and Sully, dropping both. It starts towards a backtracking Chloe, but is cut off by Cal, who hits it with the shovel he found laying near the grave. Cal hits it in the head, sending it to the ground again and decapitates it with the metal part of the shovel, dusting it.

Danny punches the other vampire away from him, and Nikki and Kelly pounce on it, clawing at it and giving Danny some time to recover. Nikki gets up to pull her stake out, but the vampire gets enough leverage to throw Kelly off of him and into Nikki and both girls crash to the ground. Shane moves in with a spiked baseball bat and starts bludgeoning it, marring its face and Danny gets up and stakes it.

Dawn watches with interest as the group works in tandem, albeit sloppily, to dust the two vampires. After the fairly short fight, she starts clapping.

"Good work guys." She commends the new warriors. "We can go home now."

******

James, Faith and Shane had decided to run down to McGinty's Pub, where James worked on occasion after the demonstration in the cemetery, and brought Jimmy with them, while Abby went back to the council with the other immortals. James and Faith were playing a game of pool while Shane and Jimmy talked privately.

"So you're okay with all this?" Jimmy asked his best friend, who he thought dead for several days now.

"Not much of the choice, but this place sure beats the hell out of the island. I damn sure won't miss it." Shane tells him. "I don't blame you Jimmy, I had a chance to leave after you and Abby let me out of the jail cell, and instead I went after JD. I have nobody to blame but myself… But I'll have eternity to get over it. You won't, so don't go blaming yourself."

Shane takes a long gulp of his beer, and watches Faith bend over the table that she's playing at with James, giving him a good view and a wink.

"So I guess you're staying in Cleveland then?" Jimmy asks.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that people would go apeshit if any of us showed up on the island again." Shane says. "Besides I fairly sure I have a few reasons to stick around."

Jimmy follows his friend's gaze, to watch as Faith sinks the eight ball and James hands her a twenty dollar bill. He chuckles when Faith takes the money and puts it down her bra, as she gives Shane another good view.

"I can see you do. I think I'll probably end up staying too, at least for a while. That Willow woman said she needed to talk to Abby about that Guardian thing." Jimmy says.

"Yeah, about that." Shane starts, then gulps down the end of his beer. "Far as anyone knows, the Guardians are immortal as well, they're just a little different than the kind we are. So if Abby's one of them, then she's gonna be around for a long, long time."

"Oh." Jimmy says. "I don't suppose there's a place where I can sign up?"

To Be Continued….

(Thanks for reading, please leave some reviews, they're one of my many addictions.)


	6. Glimpses, Part One

Vita Aeterna Chapter Five

Brief Preview of Events in story to come:

Uncle Marty's Memorial

The Arrival of the other two known Guardians of the Slayer, and three other existing immortals (Which will turn story into Multi-Crossover with Roswell and Veronica Mars)

Chloe and Cal's wedding

Evil's Immortal arrives (either Henry or Wakefield, I'll let you decide in reviews)

Final Death of one of the Harper's Island Immortals

Big Fight with Evil's Immortal

New Immortal Awakens

End of Vita Aeterna

Start of next story in series, set a few years later

Chapter 5: Glimpses, Part One

Several Weeks Later

Watchers Council - Cleveland

"Thank god that's done with." Kelly remarks as she moves the last of her stuff into her rooms. The last few days had been long and hard, with Dawn helping the immortals retrieve all their stuff from the places they lived when they were still alive. It had been hard to go back to the island, even if it was just for a few hours, and Kelly knew that it had taken it's toll on Nikki, Shane and Jimmy as well.

At least they wouldn't have to think about it anymore in the future after tommorrow, she wished she could have it be over for her now, like it was for a couple of the others, but she felt she needed to go to Tacoma with JD in case he needed her at the memorial that he, Trish, Sully, Danny, Booth and Abby were having for Marty. JD had been crushed when they found that Shea was keeping an eye on anything regarding the victims of the massacre, obviously because of the missing bodies at the morgue, and the subsequent disappearance of Jimmy and Abby to Cleveland.

She put the last of the boxes down on the bed and flicked open the lid of the box, and stared at the ten year old picture of her and her mom together. She studies the framed image for several moments, deep in thought, then finally sets it down on the small bedside table that had come with the room. She was glad to be away from the island, once and for all, and that she had JD and Abby with her made her happier than she'd been in many years.

******

Council Training Center

James is working out, taking his aggression out on the large rubber dummy used for weapons practice by the resident slayers with his prized katana. James lived for the thrill of the fight, overjoyed by his calling to help in destroying the evil of the supernatural world. He did a series of attacks with the sword, slashing and cutting away at the rubber dummy in synchronized and well-practiced moves, unaware that he had an audience until he was finished.

"That was magnificent." Trish commented from where she sat on the steps leading down to the basement, smoking a cigarette. She knew that her father would never approve of her smoking but he was gone, and she still partially blamed herself. It was her way of coping.

"I did nae know I had spectators." James said, with a mixed Irish and Scottish accent.

"I haven't been here long, just needed to get away from all the buzz upstairs." Trish explained.

"It does get overwhelming every once in a while." James agreed. "You'll get used to it over time."

"Oh, I'm plenty used to it. I've had to deal with it my whole life." Trish told him, then paused for a moment thinking. "Okay, maybe not the supernatural part or the fifty some odd super strong teenage girls, but my dad was always dragging me and my sister to some function or another to show us off. I'm just tired of it all."

She stops for a moment and looks at James. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to bitch about the injustices of my life. It was rude of me." Trish starts to get up.

"Don't worry about it lass. Everyone has problems, some of us more than others." James tells her, stopping her. "I don't mind listening."

He pulls out his own pack of cigarettes, and passes her one, and lights one up for himself. Trish accepts the cigarette and lets James light it for her. She is silent for a moment.

"You were great with that sword, do you think you could teach me?" Trish asks after a drag of her cigarette. "I'd like to be able to do more around her, besides just act as back up for the slayers."

"I would be honored to teach you how to fight with a sword." James answers and Trish's face lights up.

"Thank you." She says, hoping that she can learn fast, and swearing to herself never to be the helpless little girl again.

******

McGinty's Pub

Nikki smiled at Sully from her place behind the bar of McGinty's as he entered the pub with Booth and Danny. She had been thrilled when James had helped her to get the job, after he found out that she had been the bartender at the Cannery on the island, and the fact that the owner had recently lost two staff-members to vampire attacks in the last month had helped speed along the process of her hiring. In the weeks since she and the others had been reborn as immortals, McGinty's had become somewhat of their private haven. It was here that Cal finally proposed properly to Chloe, and Shane and JD had made peace, or as close to peace as those two were ever going to get. It felt like home.

"3 bottles of Sacred Turtle." Sully's voice requested over the general noisiness of her other customers, and Nikki quickly retrieved the order from the cooler. It had been their final tribute to Malcolm, bringing his recipe for the beer they all loved to Cleveland and selling it out of McGinty's for a profit, which they then had Faith and Vi donate to Malcolm's family, so it wouldn't be traced back to them.

"Here you go." Nikki announced, handing Sully the beers and getting pulled close to him with a full grin as he kissed her. After a few moments, and a couple of disappointed customers that had been hitting on her earlier, the kiss broke.

"How much longer until you get off?" Sully asks, picking up the beers.

"How do you know I didn't already just get off?" Nikki retorts coyly, and Sully smirks. "About a half hour or so." She tells him.

"I'll be waiting." He says with a grin and walks back over to Danny and Booth with the beer. She watched him go with a matching grin and got back to work.

******

Fairview Hospital

Cal sighed as he walked out of the main lobby of the hospital he was now a surgical intern at, thanks to the help of Willow who had created new identities for the group, and allowed for him to retain his credentials as a Medical School graduate. He had been thrilled at the chance to work with living patients once more, the work he used to have of cutting up corpses had soured with his experiences on the island and he was happy to be saving lives rather than speaking to police officers about blood alcohol levels and causes of death. Chloe told him she was proud regardless, but he wanted to get away from all the death, he had more than enough of it to deal with given his 'other' job.

Cal was broken out of his thoughts by the shrill honking of a car's horn in the pick-up/drop-off lane that bordered the emergency wing of the hospital. He looks up to find Chloe behind the wheel of her cherry red Cadillac CTS Coupe. The window is down and she leans her head out the driver's window.

"Are you just going to stand there all night thinking, or are you going to get in the car and come to McGinty's with me?" Chloe teases, and Cal grins at her little joke.

"Oh I do believe the time for thinking is long over miss." Cal chided with humor in his voice and hopped in the passenger side, leaning over and kissing his fiancé fervently to the whistles and catcalls from several of the EMTs nearby having a cigarette and talking. Chloe, now aware of their audience, starts to pull away, blushing, but Cal stops her. "No, let's give them something to talk about for the weekend."

Chloe grins as her forehead rests against Cal's. "I like how you think." She told him, pleased with his new attitude and demeanor.

"I already said, enough with the thinking." Cal growled, capturing his lover's lips once more.

To Be Continued……


End file.
